newbie, UK & Russian visa couple

[ezalife]

hi guys,
I'm after a little advise on the feasibility of me and my partner both getting working visas with the intention of staying in Canada long-term.

our situation:
I'm a UK citizien, 36, professional app developer, director of own company, lives in UK
She's Russian, 25, worked in admin, now for a financial company, lives in Russia

we've been together for just over a year long distance due to the UK/Russian visa restrictions and have both always had a love for Canada so have started playing with the idea that maybe Canadian is the way forwards to be together.

But neither of us know much about working visas/residency etc so wanted to get a feel for if it's difficult / easy / timescales and hurdles.

all the best and thanks in advance for any advice you have.

Rich

 

[scylla]

To qualify for work permits, you'll first need to find an employer in Canada who is willing to offer you a full time job. That employer will then have to obtain an approved Labour Market Opinion and prove the job was advertised and no Canadian could be found for the role. If the LMO is approved, you can then obtain a work permit.

If you are either common law (have lived together for a minimum of one full year) or are married, then if one of you obtains a skilled job then the second one should qualify for an open work permit as a spouse / common law partner. If you are neither married nor common law, then both of you will have to find employers and go through the LMO process indepdendently.

It's relatively difficult to find employers who are willing to go through the LMO process since it's a time-consuming process, it costs money and because there's no gurantee of approval. However some are certainly successful. So by all means give it a shot.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[ezalife]

thanks for that Scylla, I'll looking into it some more

regards, Rich